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There will be no Olympic break for Hurricanes Justin Faulk, instead the defenseman will be suiting up for Team USA. It will be his first Olympic hockey experience next month in Sochi.

“To get a chance to put on a USA jersey and represent our county at an international level, especially an Olympic level, it’s pretty exciting,” Faulk said.

Faulk is no stranger to wearing the red, white and blue. He’s played for the US at various levels since he was 16, but getting the Olympic phone call is a different story.

“The Olympic level is something completely different and when I saw my named called I was pretty fired up. I’m still just as fired up I’d say,” Faulk said.

Faulk may only be 21-years old but he already has 147 NHL games under his belt, a fact not lost on the USA coaching staff.

“I think that he’s young but I think they recognize, if you look at a defenseman that’s played in all key situations for a couple years now, power play, penalty kill and five-on-five playing against the best players. He’s not a flash in the pan kind of defensemen,” said Hurricanes head coach Kirk Muller.

“The rink’s a little bit bigger over there so the play’s going to be a little bit different,” said Faulk. “The speed of the game might be a little bit faster with a lot of quick players, with the big ice, that’s kind of what I think most teams are going for, a fast team. So that’ll be the biggest difference I think. But I’ve done it plenty of time and I think I can adjust pretty fast.”

Faulk has become a mainstay on the Hurricanes defense; he’ll now try to extend that to his country.